China's July Oil Processing Edges Up From June, First Monthly Gain Since Iran Conflict

China's oil processing activity in July showed a modest recovery from the previous month, marking the first month-on-month increase since the onset of the Iran conflict, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday.

The world's largest energy importer processed 53.11 million metric tons of crude oil in July, equivalent to roughly 12.5 million barrels per day. While this represents a 0.3% uptick from June — when throughput hit its lowest level in over six years — it still stands 15.8% below the same period last year.

China has deliberately scaled back both oil processing and imports since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began, responding to supply disruptions and weakening domestic demand. This pullback has effectively freed up global crude supplies for other importing nations.

For the first seven months of the year, total oil throughput reached 396.96 million tons, or about 13.67 million barrels per day, a 6.5% decline compared to the same period in the previous year.

Domestic crude production, meanwhile, continued its upward trend. July output rose 0.8% year-on-year to 18.27 million tons, or roughly 4.3 million barrels per day. Cumulative production for January through July stood at 127.69 million tons, up 0.9% from a year earlier.

Natural gas output, however, slipped 0.9% in July to 21.4 billion cubic meters. Year-to-date gas production reached 154.3 billion cubic meters, still 1.2% higher than the same period last year.